Things I Care About Right Now (5)
September 5, 2025
It's the first(ish) week back to school and I have once again over-committed myself. Between small jobs, an expo, a career fair, another class, and two workshops this month on top of starting my senior year and other family/friend commitments, I'm pretty skeptical on how it's going to work out but still we ball!
I didn't get a newsletter out last month because it's been a hard time (i'm having a hard time today as a matter of fact), but I don't see it getting much better very soon so let's get this in while we can!
1. be not afraid
I was able to turn in a small visual novel for Nonbinary Game Jam 2025! It's a letter to my younger selves and I'm doing this thing where I learn as much about a game engine as I can by making little creations focused on one thing at a time. I think you'll be able to tell this one focuses on transitions. I'm pretty pleased with it (the brainstorming threatened to go on forever, so I'm glad that I stopped imagining and just did the thing) and I'm glad I can move on to the next project. Also, the cover art is my favorite.
The game jams I'm keeping an eye out for are Velox Fabula 3 (it just started!), Colorful Love Jam, and Yuri Game Jam 2025. Fingers crossed!
2. Blaugust 2025
I'm moving sites and having a neocities is pretty cool! I tried to do some of Blaugust, where you write a blog post every day but I also knew that was never going to happen so I'm happy that I have six new posts! I'll most likely archive newsletters like these on that site too so I can practice HTML/CSS more.
There are at least five more drafts I'm working on and I'm hoping that I can at least get two of them done before the end of the year.
3. Game Bundles
Game Devs of Color
The Game Devs of Color game bundle has ended but you can still support them here and check out the expo happening in two weeks! It's virtual and I'm gonna be going too, it'll be my third or fourth year since they've made it virtual. I love this con (you can check out the video I did with my friend, Evel, on accessibility here) and honestly it gets better every year!Play For Peace: Games for Palestine Charity
Image description: cartoon hands and paws reaching towards the middle of the screen that reads Play for Peace Games for Palestine Charity in pixel letters against a bright yellow screen with white game control letters and symbols. There is a tablet, a chessboard, two game devices, a letter with a heart sticker, and a coffee cup spread throughout the picture.
Southeast Asia Games For Good added my zine into the trailer for Play for Peace: Games for Palestine bundle and you can buy the bundle for the next seventeen days (ends September 22nd) with all proceeds going to UNRWA.
Queer Games 2025 I think I've mentioned it before but I'm also in the Queer Games 2025 Bundle and that's available until September 16th, with all proceeds going to creators in the bundle!
extra: I just came across Free Zine Week 2025 bundle where you can get ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY EIGHT ZINES FOR PAY WHAT YOU WANT with all proceeds going to the creators! It ends September 16th so you should check it out.
4. Metahorror Therapy Session by Mieri Games
I've been playing Metahorror Therapy Session (it's 20% off right now!) for about a week and a half and finished my first playthrough last night. Mieri Games is a solo developer from Brazil and also a psychologist! so I was pretty interested in this game because I rarely hear about media like this made from a therapist's point of view.
I'm still collecting my feelings about it but it did fuck me up a little bit. There was a section where it said a lot of things I needed to hear as an abused kid, and then it kind of did a series of turns that kind of messed me up for a minute. I don't know how to properly explain that this isn't a bad thing. It definitely made me feel like I needed to ground myself because there was something I needed to integrate into my understanding of myself and to prepare for that integration to be unsteadying as shit. I'm still thinking on it and it'll take me a second to get to the next playthrough (which I have to do because I want all the achievements), but I would check it out if you like horror visual novels!
5. What I've Been Watching
So it's Depression Hours over here which leads to me watching more horror movies than usual. I watched eleven of them last week, which is definitely a record.
Mouse (2021): Technically a show but as long as I had to watch this, it's the equivalent of like five movies.
Until Dawn: I started watching the playthrough last year but gave up and read the Wikipedia instead. I decided against getting the game when I'd read that they had stolen the main horror from Indigenous stories. I still can't listen to a review because it seems like everyone just wants to keep saying a certain word[^1], but my friend and I watched the movie and were sufficiently scared so I recommend it
Whispering Corridors (1998): Hearing that this was a big factor in the horror movies set in all-girls' school theme in future Asian horror movies and I can see why, I enjoyed it and am pretty glad there's a series to look forward to
Elio: This movie got like five percent advertising as far as I can tell but it's cute and glordon is going to be a child's name, sorry to that future child
Mickey 17: I was a little wary since it's two hours and some odd minutes but the way Robert's voice was the first ten seconds, was locked in. i really enjoyed this one1 and it makes sense because i enjoy Bong Joon Ho's work in general
The Woman In The Yard: The previews had me really excited (read: terrified). It's not a bad movie, but it definitely gave a lesson my ass sure wasn't interested in hearing at the time AND has me a little scared to do the black ass prayer of "Give me strength"2
Megan 2.0: Not as scary as the first one but i had a GREAT time and will be watching a lot
Mr. Crocket: Like a lot of my choices, I watched because of Girl That's Scary!. I'm not a huge fan of this one, especially because the parents weren't all as awful as i thought they'd be (i love me a lil Matilda-like they-deserve-it revenge set-up) but i'm always for adding more black horror to the canon
I Saw The TV Glow: I'd recommend heavily especially if you're queer, but I wanna note, I had to read a lot of articles and interviews(1) and listen to reviews before I really felt it. I was beyond excited by the trailer and had already added it to my favorite movies. iIt's taken me a minute to realize that I'm a bit iffy on outright loving this movie because there isn't an acknowledgement of--much less deep dive into--how transness is handled very differently among black and white communities3. It's still really good but it leaves me wanting more (and not because of the ending, like a lot of other people tend to feel--that ending makes perfect sense to me)
Weapons: WATCH THIS. This was my favorite one out of the bunch and im ready to watch about ten more times4
Gothika: This is a rewatch inspired by Girl That's Scary that I know I've seen parts of because it came on cable all the time and I still somehow always guess the ending wrong. It's not great (though I 100% believe the time period + misogynoir within the script wouldn't let this be great, don't @ me) but i'm rooting for Halle Berry and thanking her for getting us some black woman horror even though the homies (not my homies) disrespect her contributions
Tales From The Hood: I'd seen the second one first (because friendship)5 so I had an idea of what to expect. I think it's important for like, black horror canon purposes but I probably won't watch again for a while
Clown In A Cornfield: I only watched because I thought the book was written by Grady Hendrix and i ADORE The Final Girl Support Group but it is not by that author and is by Adam Cesare, and so I was very confused most of the movie. It's not great and definitely falls into a trope that I was expecting it to subvert since it's 2025 BUT I'm probably gonna watch it again
Imaginary: I watched for dewanda wise because I am gay. I gave up watching--even for her--about forty-five minutes in6
The People Under The Stairs: First time watch and I really enjoyed it! There were parts that were a bit triggering around one of the younger characters and Lord knows the racism is very present (though it makes sense), but I think it's pretty good
Opus: All I know is people are haters because a lot of people said this movie was ehh. Personally, the third act7 made for a good enough movie in and of itself. I came here for Ayo Edibiri and Ayo Edibiri made the entire thing worth it, thanks
Unknown Number: A High School Catfish Story: I've watched this three times with three different groups in one week because I'm going through shit. I can confidently say: Netflix knows how to make a damn documentary, shit
Lake Mungo: I heard a lot of people say the climax would scare me but it didn't so I've been a little mad about that. That obviously doesn't mean it's a bad movie, it's really well done actually, but you have to go into it with a certain type of mood. I think it's probably a good movie for if you're in a The Babadook type mood
Odds & Ends
I'm reading My Favorite Thing is Monsters: Vol. 2 after checking it out at the library but not being able to find it anywhere else for a long time? I'm trying to make sure my ADHD and I are walking in a way where I finish this before time is up
I'm also reading If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Dr. Refaat Alareer8 and It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror edited by Joe Vallese
I'm playing Tux & Fanny, Pitstop in Purgatory and still doing a replay of The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith9
I'm listening to Geeks & Grounds, The Horror Queers, and as always, Girl, That's Scary!
Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything? by Jacob Geller
You may remember when I talked a little about The blood on our Controllers-The Complicity of the Game Industry in the Palestinian Genocide by Hippolyte, earlier this year. Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything? by Jacob Geller has me thinking a lot about propaganda, how art is one of the things people in power seek to control because they know how influential and integral art is to communities, and how we're responsible for what we deem as escape from reality when art cannot escape the systems it's built within.
Destroy the systems that seek to destroy you!
Notes:
[^1]: "The English word “w*ndigo” (I will be censoring the word out of respect for the traditional Omàmiwininì/Algonquin taboo that its name is not to be spoken for risk of drawing its attention), is believed to be a transliteration of its word from the Ojibwe language." ~Resident Anna's article Unspoken
i was worried about Naomi Ackie because Blink Twicewas a time for me, but she's my favorite character! ↩
Is the takeaway be specific in who I ask this of? ↩
which is one reason i love the girl, that's scary episode because it starts the conversation at owen's blackness, it doesn't try to add it as an afterthought. it's actually one of my comfort episodes because of how deeply they care for owen ↩
I'm really glad I didn't learn that the director was the director of Barbarian because WHAT THEEE FUCK WAS THAT MOVIE (that said, I might recommend it. I have to think on it again.) ↩
I feel like I've seen this before but I can't remember how I would've (i didn't watch horror growing up) ↩
I mean I finished it but at what cost ↩
Please come talk to me about this because from the beanbag chair to the end I was having a TIME ↩
title inspired by the late Dr. Refaat Alareer's poem ↩
Sometimes I forget I'm playing games because I don't want them to end. Yeah, I don't get it either ↩